Call for help from the child
“Hello mom, I have a question”: Every mother falls for this fraud Whatsapp
Beware of scam Whatsapps: Is the message really from your own child? (Symbol image)
© Maria Savenko / Shutterstock
The child needs help, the old phone is broken, it has a new number, no online banking and has to make a transfer. But: It is not the child who writes. It is a scam who uses Whatsapp to rip off.
Once the child has left the house, there is almost only one thing that parents can do: help out with money. Neither in their training nor in their studies do young adults have enough opportunities to earn as much on the side as they always need. Especially not when an (apparent) emergency occurs that was recently taken advantage of by a: e Fraudster: in: In a Whatsapp to a mother, an emergency was simulated with a “Hello Mom” salutation – the old cell phone was broken, therefore the new number. And now a transfer is pending, but online banking is not yet possible again. “Do you want to pay that for me when I pay it back on Monday?” Was the specific question. Which mother says no?
An unknown scammer contacted a 49-year-old woman from Roth in Bavaria. An explanation followed as to why the WhatsApp message came from a different cell phone number than the usual one. The “daughter” had dropped her smartphone in the toilet. The old number can therefore be deleted. “With this or similarly fictitious stories it is currently possible for fraudsters to get money from worried parents via messenger”, writes the Austrian association Mimikama, which investigates false reports on the Internet and in social media.
© Screenshot Minmikama.at
What helps? A call on the new number!
Parents want to react as quickly as possible in an emergency. The child finally needs them again. The cord was cut too fast anyway. BUT: That is exactly the trap one threatens to run into. What can provide a quick answer is a call to the new number – there must be so much time! If no one answers, a call to the original “child” number will most likely help, which is likely to work flawlessly.
Mimikama published a warning from the police for cases of this kind:
- Ask in person if you are contacted by a previously unknown number via messenger services such as WhatsApp.
- Do not just include unknown numbers as contacts.
- Get suspicious of being asked to make payments through messenger services.
- Check the security and privacy settings of the messenger services you use. Unknown phone numbers can usually be blocked for direct contact.
Source: Mimikama.at
This article originally appeared on stern.de.